Thousands Urge California City to End Coyote Trapping

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Explosive campaign on Change.org calls on Calabasas City Council to adopt plan that would end coyote trapping in favor of progressive, humane management.

San Francisco, CA -- More than 8,800 people have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on the city council of Calabasas, California, to adopt a coyote management plan that favors coexistence instead of killing.

Camilla Fox, executive director of the California-based Project Coyote and wildlife consultant with the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), launched the campaign on Change.org following a citizen-led movement to end indiscriminate coyote trapping in Calabasas. Once local residents convinced officials to pass a temporary moratorium on trapping, Project Coyote and AWI offered to help the city create and implement a progressive, humane management plan that emphasizes public education, reducing coyote/wildlife attractants and hazing of habituated coyotes instead of trapping.

"We commend Calabasas for its decision to suspend coyote killing and we are urging the city to make the ban permanent,"said Camilla Fox, who launched the campaign on Change.org, the world’s fastest growing platform for social change. "Indiscriminate trapping of coyotes is not an effective or humane solution to reduce real or perceived conflicts between people, coyotes and domestic animals. Coyotes are here to stay. We must learn to coexist. Education and reducing attractants are key."

After 6,000 people signed the online petition campaign, the Calabasas Environment Commission voted unanimously to support a progressive coyote coexistence plan that emphasizes public education. Project Coyote plans to deliver the petition, now over 8,800 signatures, to the Calabasas City Council in advance of an October 12 public hearing and vote on the issue.

"What these concerned citizens have accomplished is remarkable," said Stephanie Feldstein, Director of Organizing for Change.org. "It started with Calabasas residents speaking out against coyote trapping, and now they have the expertise of Project Coyote and the support of more than 8,800 people behind them. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it’s been incredible to watch this campaign take off."

"The City of Calabasas has an opportunity to become a trend-setter with regard to coexisting with our wild neighbors and continuing to emphasize the strong environmental values held by the community," said Fox. "We hope they choose this path and have offered our assistance to help them attain this goal."

Camilla Fox will present testimony at the public hearing, and both Project Coyote and AWI are encouraging local residents to attend and testify.

For more information on Camilla Fox’s group, please visit:http://www.projectcoyote.org/Project Coyote promotes educated coexistence between people and coyotes by championing progressive management policies that reduce human-coyote conflict, supporting innovative scientific research, and by fostering respect for and understanding of America's native wild "song dog."

http://www.awionline.org/The Animal Welfare Institute is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 to alleviate the suffering caused to animals by humans.

For more information on Change.org, please visit:http://www.change.org/aboutChange.org is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change - growing by more than 400,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.